The Unvegan

A lot can happen in 7 years. You could meet a woman, call her your girlfriend for a while, then fiancee, then wife and then mother of your child. You could move from LA to Pittsburgh to and then to Pasadena, with a brief sojourn into Buffalo. Or you could, you know, start a meat-centric food blog and keep it going for as long as Brad Pitt spent in Tibet.

To celebrate 7 years of The Unvegan, I decided to celebrate with a sandwich. But this wasn’t just any sandwich – no this sandwich had to be epic in unvegan-ness. It had to be 7 meats and 7 cheeses, with nothing but olive oil and bread to join them. Fortunately, I have one of LA’s best Italian Delis down the street, which goes by the name of Roma Market.

I asked for a sandwich with 7 meats and 7 cheeses. It was made clear to me that this request had never been made before, but the meat and cheese slicer man was up for the challenge. Well almost…you see, there were only 4 cheeses available. So I watched as he delicately sliced the meats and cheeses and placed them upon the bread. Then I immediately ran to the grocery store nearby to add 3 more cheeses to this masterpiece. So without further ado, I give you the 7 Years of Unvegan Sandwich (which you should definitely ask for at Roma Market and reference this post).

Meats:

1. Mortadella (ground, heat-cured pork with pistachios)
2. Capicola (dry-cured pork neck)
3. Prosciutto (dry-cured pork leg/thigh)
4. Bresaola (air-dried, salted beef)
5. Soppresatta (spicy, cured dry sausage)
6. Mild Coppa (basically the same thing as capicola and mild to not overwhelm)
7. Roast Beef (beef that is roasted)

Cheeses:

1. Swiss
2. Provolone
3. Gouda
4. Mozzarella
5. Mild Cheddar (so as to not overwhelm the sandwich)
6. Pepper Jack
7. Muenster

The last three cheeses were those unavailable at Roma, but that extra effort only made the 7 Years of Unvegan that much more delicious. Would it have been more reasonable to eat each meat individually? Absolutely. Would I have just been happy with Roma Market’s famously simple sandwich? Debatable. You see, when you have a chance to grab life by the bread and chow down on 7 different types of meat, you take it.